The exact cause of the fire that heavily damaged the new Minnewasta Golf and Country Club clubhouse has not been pinpointed, but the club is now at least in a position to start moving forward again.
The fire that destroyed most of the clubhouse and restaurant came early in the new year after a gala just days before celebrated the official opening of the new facility, which had been built after the previous building was destroyed by a fire as well.
The investigation into the Jan. 5 blaze revealed it appears to have started in the kitchen area between two ceilings—a drop down ceiling and the drywall ceiling above it.
“Obviously, between there, there’s a lot of stuff in between those two ceilings, so that’s what they’ve pinpointed it down to,” shared general manager and head professional Greg Hesom last week.
“I think right from the beginning, the way that the building burned and was then pulled apart as well, I think it was always going to be a difficult job to pinpoint it exactly,” he said. “The fact that there’s no human responsible is the relieving part.”
“I think the more frustrating part was having to wait for the process to be done,” Hesom added. “It’s very frustrating in a way, but I’m glad that the process is done and we can move forward.”
It is impossible to have an accurate assessment still at this point, but there is hope that the site will not be a complete loss.
“There’s going to be a lot of unknowns and jigsaw pieces to fit together,” said Hesom. “The very next step is to get the building demolished, get it down to the concrete and foundation, and at that point we can get an engineer in to come and check and make sure that those are usable … and that’s the very big step next because if it’s usable, it’s a very different scenario.
“If we’re able to keep the foundation and the pad and the basement … then it’s an ambitious goal but that could make May 2026 a possibility” for a target opening date, he said, adding it otherwise would be at least a two-year build.
The next step then of course will be to put their plans in place for operating this year.
“Unfortunately, we’re pretty well practiced with running the golf course without a full building,” Hesom said. “We had moved the snack shack off the premises but had not yet sold it … so that will come back, as will the tent.”
He noted though they had landscaped where the events tent had been sitting, so they will need to put it somewhere else.
“Plans might look different if it’s a one- or a two-year build, so we’re going to wait for that to make our final decisions on how we run this year,” Hesom said. “For the most part, the tournaments are very supportive, staying with us, and they’ve experienced the same thing we have. We can run with the tent and the snack shack.”
Hesom stressed that they are grateful for the support that has been shown by the community.
“The messages of support and drop-ins and phone calls … there’s been a lot of them over the last seven weeks. They’re very much supportive, encouraging, and uplifting.”
